Your Brain on Pain

Ask any Physio and they will tell you that pain is multi-faceted. That means that it is never 100% physical.

How can pain not just be physical? Well, pain is not pain before it enters the brain. Read that line again. Take a point of injury, such as scrapping the skin from your knee. There are receptors at that point of injury. Those receptors send a signal, and those signals are squished through a bottle neck into the pain centre within the brain. (The somatosensory cortex).  That pain centre remembers everything our body has taught us on cuts, bruises, aches and breaks. The output is however simple – pain or no pain.

Remember the last time someone pointed out a cut or bruise to you, that you had no recollection of getting. Before they pointed it out there was no pain, but suddenly that pain centre in your brain shouts “remember bruises/cuts hurt” and voila, you feel pain.

So, pain can be broken down into three dimensions. Sensory (how the pain actually feels), cognitive (what we think about the pain and how we interpret it), and the affect (how we act in response to it).

Now this information is invaluable for lots of reasons but most importantly it teaches us that we can control the amount the pain (or output) that we feel. We do this by learning to interpret the “pain” differently and changing our reaction to it. Does it mean we can eradicate pain completely? Well, no, as it is within our best interests to feel pain as it ultimately keeps us safe and alive. However, the amount of pain we feel can be adjusted.

Mindset is everything and more. Think of those blue-sky days, with the birds singing and a picnic with friends, talking and laughing. Chances are if you were in pain before you aren't really noticing it too much. This is us changing our reaction to the pain. By not staying still, tightening up and focusing on the pain. Instead moving, living and allowing the affect of that pain to not rule the day.

Of course, pain is a very personal journey and is unique to the person. There are also going to be those days when it is simple not possible to place yourself into a positive environment. Those are the days when it is most important to remember that your brain plays a pivotal role in the sensations you are feeling. Notice on those days how you are holding yourself, how you are breathing and use the visualisation of turning down the pain within your brain.